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Denn Santoro
Editor's Note: Click here for Mags, Denn's cat, who was filling in for Denn until we got a photo of Denn. Rather than direct code writing, Mags prefers 'lap-top' supervision, where she applies all 13 pounds of her 'pressure' to ensure Denn gets it right.

Denn Santoro My original background, and the organizing principal for all the work that I have done, is problem solving. I started off in counseling and worked into administration. My bachelor's degree is actually Human Services Administration and my graduate degree is Program Evaluation. Neither has much to do with computers although I was always interested in them and used them for statistical analysis.

After a career in human services and state government I decided to start my own consulting company, Resource Development Associates, in 1982. I created a company model that allowed me to assemble teams of consultants around projects. These were all people whom I had worked with and been impressed by in the past. But they either had their own consulting practices or worked somewhere and did not want to do the work involved to conduct a business. They did want an interesting outside project occasionally, however. This allowed me to have a wide range of skills available without needing to carry employees. This has worked out well over the years. At the time it was considered an unusual model (OK, people told me I was nuts and it would never work) but now it seems pretty mainstream. I advertised the company as a solutions company from the beginning as it was a good way to describe a company built around problem solving. Remember, at this time PCs were just coming out and being a solutions company did not mean what it does today. At this time we did not focus on PCs or computers at all.

In early 1983 we were hired for a project in the regulatory agency for children's services for Massachusetts. We were brought in to fix a number of problems but one part of this project clearly needed computerization. So we began developing a PC network (a Corvus Omninet) and doing some database design (in Condor, which was pretty impressive at the time). In the process of this I became much more interested in database theory and PC systems and networks. And the result of that project was that folks started identifying us a company that "does computers; especially those new PCs."

By 1986 I had advanced far enough in this area to be hired by a Lesley College (now University) to help them develop a management specialization in managing computer resources and to teach several graduate courses including "Database theory and design" and "Management problem solving." I continued to maintain the consulting practice as I taught for the next 10 years for Lesley in their programs in Cambridge, MA, Cheyenne, WY and Rapid City, SD. At about the same time I found Paradox 2.0 by Ansa which was impressive enough for me to replace Condor. I have stayed with Paradox in all its later versions and through all its company moves.

I have built numerous databases throughout this time from small personal systems to systems that run on multi state WANs. In the process of doing this I wrote many tools that I found solved various problems. I frequently thought I should pretty them up and package them and make them available to other developers. In the fall of 1999 I decided to take some time and really do that as well as get my web site polished up and ready to take direct sales. I quickly released several products. These tools have received good acceptance out there and have been selling slowly but steadily. The feedback has been good and I keep looking for other tool opportunities. In the long run I would love to see them help Corel and I hope that as Corel's business improves it will help mine as well. In the long run I'd love to get some of these tools in the Paradox box.



Check out these articles written by Dennis :
Change Partners: A Technology Dance
Hammering Screws or Designing Databases


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